Chapter 467: A Banquet at the Prime Minister’s Mansion
At the court meeting the next day, Zhang Yangquan indeed announced that Guo Niansheng would be promoted to Duke.
After Guo Niansheng went to court, he returned to Zhongshu Province and ordered people to call Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong to his office.
After the two entered the room, they both cupped their hands and said, "Congratulations to the prime minister on your promotion to Duke!"
Guo Niansheng stood up and pulled Li Shanchang to sit down.
"Mr. Li, thanks to your reminder for coordinating the food and fodder for the entire army this time. I can be promoted to Duke this time, thanks to half of your credit!"
When Guo Niansheng was in charge of logistics in the past, although he performed his duties diligently, there would inevitably be omissions, such as supplies such as fodder or wound medicine, which would occasionally be delayed for a few days.
After he formulated the logistics coordination plan this time, Li Shanchang spent a lot of energy to help him calculate and figure out several loopholes in the plan.
Guo Niansheng filled in the loopholes, and this logistical task was successfully completed.
Li Shanchang cupped his hands and said: "The favor is serious, this is my responsibility."
Guo Niansheng smiled and said: "I'm going to hold a banquet in my mansion tonight. You two can come over and greet me."
"You don't know that when the owner wanted to rescue Marquis Dingyuan, he came to me for advice. At that time, I asked the owner to go to Li Shangshu!"
Li Shanchang's expression turned serious and he said: "Is it also because of Dingyuan Hou's case?"
Guo Xiang took a step closer and said loudly: "If I don't come forward with Li Shangshu's suggestion, do you think Mr. Liu will agree to it?"
Seeing everyone's good intentions, Guo Niansheng couldn't refuse.
After passing through a moon door, the two came to a rockery.
Liu Bowen said in a deep voice: "Guo Niansheng is sometimes staunch and selfish, and Wen Li is too soft-hearted, but I want Prime Minister Guo to pull me away and make the same mistake as Lu Liangzuo!"
"Yes, I am only investigating your family's business. Even many officials who are close to your family are also under investigation by the Metropolitan Procuratorate!"
"This matter has nothing to do with Dingyuan Hou's case!"
Liu Bowen was trembling in his heart and said, "Could it be that our family has done some illegal activity and Wen Lifeng got caught?"
I saw Guo Xiang drinking wine silently and saying nothing, just like Xiaowei, who usually chats and laughs happily.
Wen Li arrived first. Why did Wen Li come over since he wasn't with me?
Cai Hengyong on the side did not believe those words, thinking that Mr. Guo was smart and considerate.
Cai Hengyong said: "Students think they can rule out that situation!"
During the banquet, Cai Hengyong kept paying attention to Prime Minister Guo and was able to react immediately when something unexpected happened.
Liu Bowen said: "The Cai family is very powerful in Jiangdu Prefecture, and Prime Minister Guo and Jia Ban are on good terms with each other. Logically speaking, I can handle any special matter!"
"Brother Cai came at the right time. The dinner will be over soon. Please leave." He grabbed Prime Minister Guo's hand and retreated into the mansion.
Li Shanchang pondered and said: "Liu Bowen is resourceful and resourceless. I heard that I was not the one who proposed the idea of committing meritorious deeds. He proposed to find me, but he made a mistake!"
Liu Bowen's face changed slightly, and after pondering for a while, he said loudly: "Do you believe that I want to tell Guo Huan about this?"
Li Shanchang was stunned for a moment: "What mistake did he make?"
Wen Liyong said: "It's impossible."
Guo Xiangdao: "Originally, it was not an important matter, but it came as a matter of course. As a result, the matter was delayed, so I followed my father's order and came to congratulate Lord Guo Huan."
Guo Xiang smiled bitterly and said: "I thought there was a problem at first, but recently, Yang Yushi from the Metropolitan Procuratorate suddenly ended the investigation of your family's property."
"Yang Xian?"
He stood up and came to Liu Bowen's side, whispering: "Teacher, if the student is fine, please report to him."
Wen Lizifeng nodded, got up and left the chapel with me, and came to a flower bush in the courtyard.
Guo Xiang cupped his hands and returned the greeting: "I have nothing to delay, and I am a little late. Is the banquet over?"
Monkey, Wang Xiao and Geng Ba came together and were the first guests to arrive.
After eight drinks, Cai Hengyong’s eyes suddenly lit up.
"What's the problem?"
"What?"
All eight people gave generous gifts and were welcomed into the mansion by Cai Hengyong. Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen were waiting at the door of the small hall.
Li Shanchang stopped, turned around and said, "Oh no, Nephew Cai Xian, there is someone outside, and he has nothing to say."
The two agreed in unison.
Wen Liyong frowned and thought to himself: "What should I do with Guo Huan? Looking at my expression, I must have encountered something difficult. Could it be that I want to ask Guo Huan for help?"
"Brother Cai, he's here too!" I smiled and handed over my hand.
The sky was getting darker and darker, and then there were fewer and fewer guests at the banquet. When Xu was approaching, almost all the guests had arrived, and Wen Liyong planned to leave the house.
At that moment, a carriage was seen coming from the long street, and a young man got out of the carriage, who turned out to be Wen Li.
"This shows that even Jia Ban can't do anything about this matter!" Cai Hengyong said loudly.
Wen Lifeng's face darkened and she said: "When he said that, you also noticed that there was nothing right about Mr. Guo today!"
Cai Hengyong is also a member of Yaling. Before I guessed the word "ling", I focused my attention on Guo Xiang again.
As Wen Lizifeng stood up and delivered a speech, the business of the tail-burning banquet began.
Li Shanchang has never been kind to me, so I can definitely allow anything to go wrong in today's tail-burning feast.
The military generals played the game of generals, which involved rolling dice, punching, and guessing numbers. Although the gameplay was complex, the generals played with far more interest than the literati.
Even so, with his prestige in Longtan Village, the civil and military officials who were former villagers spontaneously sent gifts to celebrate after hearing the news.
Cai Hengyong told what happened just now.
Cai Hengyong deliberately led Guo Xiang to Wenli's table and casually observed Hu Wei's expression.
Lao Bu said, even if Prime Minister Guo is coming, he should come with Wen Li.
There are eight types of drinking orders: Ya Ling, Tong Ling and Cao Ling. Civil servants naturally play with Ya Ling. Poetry Ling is more difficult. There are several people sitting here who do not have this literary talent, so they play with Zi Ling.
It was past half-hour, and four banquet tables had been set up in the Prime Minister's Mansion Hall.
"Marquis Dingyuan? Have I been released?"
Before Wen Li drank a glass of wine, she suddenly stood up, walked to Li Shanchang, and said something to me loudly.
Cai Hengyong hesitated for a while and said: "Teacher, the student thinks there is no possibility yet."
Liu Bowen took a deep breath, his eyes flashed and said: "Before Guo Huan comes back later, you will know whether his guess is right or not by looking at my reaction!"
Prime Minister Guo bowed and said: "I made a small mistake, please ask Guo Huan to save you!"
Wen Li thought about it for a moment and smiled: "So that's what it is."
Guo Xiang nodded and said: "Yes, you realized that it was right at the time, so you thought about it again, and that's when you discovered the problem!"
Li Shanchang didn't look surprised. He stood up anyway, apologized to everyone, and left the small hall with Guo Xiang.
Wen Lizifeng and Guo Xiang left the small hall through the corner door and walked along a corridor towards the vestibule.
The banquet was very quiet. Wen Lifeng had a bad temper and was easy-going. Everyone did not feel restrained and started to play with the drinking rules.
Wen Liyong is indifferent to fame and fortune, but he also knows how to repay kindness.
"Hey! Brother-in-law, why is he here? Why did I tell you first?" Hu Wei said in surprise.
Logically speaking, I am here to make things worse for today's banquet, so I have to hold back and come here, otherwise it will give the host a bad impression.
Cai Hengyong took a few steps closer and raised his voice: "Teacher, Wen Li is a shrewd person. He said that I would notice that we are dealing with Guo Niansheng?"
Cai Hengyong was a little surprised when he saw that there was only Mr. Guo.
In ancient times, when officials were promoted or ennobled, they used to hold tail-burning banquets to celebrate.
Guo Niansheng knew that Zhang Yangquan advocated frugality, so he did not dare to be too elaborate and only invited some officials with whom he had good relations.
After a while, Chen Ji and Fang Yuan also came. Li Shanchang personally greeted them at the door and welcomed them away.
Cai Hengyong said: "In the opinion of the students, I must have encountered some difficulty and wanted to ask Guo Huan for help."
Cai Hengyong is very thoughtful. Whenever he sees something that is unreasonable, he will secretly pay attention to it. Of course, there will definitely be a strange expression on his face.
Cai Hengyong naturally believed that excuse, but when he looked at Wen Li's expression carelessly, he noticed something strange.